Germany reports new record high in far-right crimes

Germany has seen a new record high in the number of politically motivated criminal cases in 2020, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Tuesday.

The number of such crimes has increased by 8.5% in the past year -- to just under 45,000, he said at a news conference in Berlin.

That is a new high, said Seehofer, calling the latest figures "very worrying."

"There is a clear tendency toward brutality in our country," the minister added.

According to Seehofer, 3,365 of these crimes were acts of violence, for example, bodily harm or homicides. This number actually increased by almost a fifth.

Slightly more than half of the political crimes, around 23,604, are linked to right-wing extremists which is an increase of almost 6%.

The fact remains that "right-wing extremism is the greatest threat to security in our country," said Seehofer.

The registered number of far-right criminal offenses is the highest since 2001.

For left-wing motivated offenses, the increase was 11% last year with 10,971 offenses.

In 2020, 11 people were killed for political reasons. Furthermore, 13 attempted homicides were registered, said Seehofer.

Meanwhile, Seehofer pointed out that the continued violent protests against the anti-coronavirus measures are also reflected in the statistics.